


Mr July

by DarkFairytale



Category: 9-1-1 (TV)
Genre: Bobby is Buck's Dad, Buck is a golden retriever, Calendar Boys, Chim will always be Mr April, Crack, Crushes, Cute, Drabble, Established Relationship, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Funny, Hen and Bobby deserve to be on the calendar too!, Humor, M/M, Maddie is a troll, Maddie is the original Buddie fangirl, Mutual Pining, Oblivious, Oblivious Evan "Buck" Buckley, Pining, Pre-Relationship, Pre-Slash, Short One Shot, it's canon, that's just how it is
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-18
Updated: 2020-06-13
Packaged: 2021-02-27 12:53:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,128
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22297378
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarkFairytale/pseuds/DarkFairytale
Summary: Both Buck and Eddie are asked to take part in another charity fireman calendar.
Relationships: Evan "Buck" Buckley/Eddie Diaz
Comments: 74
Kudos: 844





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I couldn't help it you guys, I'm on the Buddie ship and we be sailing towards the sunset.
> 
> This is a super fast drabble and my first bit of Buddie fic, but I really hope you enjoy it. It was written pretty quickly and posted in the early hours, so I apologise for any blatant mistakes, which are all mine. Let me know if you spot any glaring errors and I'll change them.

“Ah, Mr 4th July! You’re here!” Maddie ignored Buck’s confused frown as she moved aside to let him step into her flat. “You’d better be hungry for Buffriday,” she warned cheerfully as she closed the door behind him. “We’ve ordered Chinese, pizza and fries, chicken wings, Thai…”

“Oh so you remember it’s Friday?” Buck joked as he followed her through to the lounge. “But not that it’s December and not July?”

“It’s not July in _this_ house,” she smirked at him as she wedged herself back on the couch next to Chim. “But it will be in yours.”

Buck looked imploringly to Chim for answers because he had absolutely no idea what Maddie was talking about. And she was clearly enjoying herself way too much to give him a straight answer any time soon.

Chim grinned before taking pity on him. “These were delivered to the station about an hour after you finished your shift.” He reached down to pick something up from the coffee table and threw it over to Buck, who caught it easily. “Thought I’d pass the mantle as the previous Mr April and hand deliver one straight to Mr July himself, since you’ve been so looking forward to…”

“Are you saying that I’m July?!” Buck interrupted excitedly, sitting down on one of the armchairs and immediately flipping through the charity fireman calendar for the upcoming year.

It was Buck’s first fireman charity calendar; his leg and then the lawsuit had meant he hadn’t been able – hadn’t been _allowed_ – to apply to take part in the last one, and Chim had been chosen as the 118’s Mr April for the one before that.  
But the 118 had been approached again that year by Sandy, the calendar organiser, and best of all, they weren’t sticking to their usual rule of one-fireman-per-station. And after Chim had _graciously_ (smugly) said he wasn’t entering that year to ‘give these guys a chance’, Sandy had asked both Buck _and_ Eddie to take part. 

Buck still couldn’t believe how stupid he had been when he had first met Eddie and had felt threatened about his spot on the calendar. Crazy, that he had so quickly disliked the man who had then so quickly become his best friend; particularly over something as shallow as appearance. But then, Buck 1.0 had cared about that type of thing. Buck 2.0 was more mature, and less likely to compare or feel threatened by other men’s physiques; by Eddie’s physique. He had just learned to appreciate…erm, well maybe not appreciate but…

Buck left that train of thought well alone and found July in the calendar. He grinned.

The theme of the shoot had been a simple one that year. Sandy had just wanted photos of the firemen in their respective stations, just with a little less uniform on than was regulation. Bobby, who was usually a supporter of the calendars, had certainly had a comment or two to make about _that._ He didn’t like cameras in the station and he _really_ didn’t like the depicted misuse of equipment and protocol. Hen, who had before been critical of the calendars, decided that that year Bobby’s disapproval of the entire shoot was actually more entertaining than her resentment towards their lack of representation.

In the photo Buck’s shoulders were resting back against one of the trucks. He was wearing a tight white t-shirt that left nothing to the imagination, because it was soaking wet. He was holding a dripping fire hose in his hand ( _a blatant misuse of vital equipment_ , said Bobby while Hen cackled in the background). The shirt was basically see-through, and if Buck could say so himself, clung in all the right places; making obvious the definition of his toned stomach and abs. Hey, he was allowed to be proud. He had worked damn hard to get all of that back after being laid up with his leg for so long. Photo-Buck's head was tipped back in a laugh, probably in response at Hen laughing at Bobby, because it looked genuine.

And apparently Sandy and the gang had thought the photo was good enough to be the one they used for _July_. July: middle of the summer months and the month of July 4th celebrations. Sure, the 118 had to deal with plenty of exasperating firework-related incidents around Independence Day but screw it. Buck was Mr July for the next year!

But then his grin slipped a little as he looked at the other summer months and couldn’t find Eddie. That wasn’t right. If anyone deserved summer month status it was Eddie. But he wasn’t there. So Buck checked Thanksgiving and Christmas too, because if anyone was to encapsulate hot family-man it was Eddie Diaz. But he wasn’t November or December. Ok, Buck thought, so maybe Eddie started the calendar, because it would be just like Sandy to put Eddie first to entice buyers in. But he wasn’t January either.

And that’s when Buck turned the page and got really offended.

“February?!” He exclaimed, dumbfounded. “They gave Eddie February? Why the hell would they give him the shortest month? Surely people would want Eddie on their wall for as long as they possibly could!”

And so they damn should. Eddie’s photo was _good_ , though that was hardly a surprise. Eddie was dressed in the regulation pants, but was topless save for the red fireman braces that certainly weren’t from the station ( _a_ _re they from a costume store?!_ Bobby had asked, outraged, as Hen had laughed harder). The braces were tight over Eddie’s pecs and shoulders. He was standing in almost an army parade rest, which did all the right things to accentuate his chest, shoulders and biceps. The slightly knowing smirk on his face, however, was definitely not soldier-like.

It was a photo worthy of _two_ months, let alone the _shortest_ goddamn month.

“The shortest month!” Buck exclaimed again, offended on Eddie's behalf, before, suddenly, he realised. “Oh, of course!” he said to Maddie and Chim, who were watching him with amused bewilderment. “Of course he is!”

“Of course he is what?”

Buck couldn’t believe he hadn’t immediately realised. He supposed it really must have been too long since Abby; since Ali; since he’d had any kind of relationship, because… “Valentine’s Day!” he exclaimed, like it was the most obvious thing. Which it was. Obviously. “Of course they would choose Eddie for Valentine’s Day!”

“Oh, yeah,” Maddie agreed, sounding a little too sarcastic and looking a little too smug; Buck had never claimed to understand his sister at all times. “Of course.”

She exchanged some sort of look with Chim that Buck had no hope of deciphering; the two of them had developed their own non-verbal cues. And while their non-verbal communication was nothing to rival his and Eddie’s, the two of them were getting pretty good at giving each other looks that Buck could not understand.

He frowned at them. “What? Do you _not_ think that Eddie is Valentine’s Day material?” He turned the calendar towards them, in case they had forgotten just what Eddie Diaz _looked_ like. “You don’t think that _this_ is Valentine’s Day material?”

“Sure we do,” Maddie agreed. “And you _clearly_ do.”

Buck frowned in confusion again at the exaggerated tone.

There was an awkward silence. 

The door buzzer went off.

“Thank god, the food’s here,” Chim sprang to his feet and rushed to the door.

Buck watched Chim go and then looked back to his sister. “He hungry or something?”

“He’s not the only one, obviously,” Maddie said. She seemed to be looking pointedly at the calendar.

Buck glanced down at where Eddie was still smirking up at him from the open calendar. He had no idea what she meant so just agreed with a vague, “Yeah,” and put the calendar aside.

***

“Hey Buck,” Maddie said to him five months later. She was standing in his kitchen, picking grapes out of a bowl.

“Yeah?” he asked distractedly, elbow-deep in washing the dishes.

“You know it’s May now, right?”

“Uhh, yeah?”

“Then how come you’re still on February?”

“What?”

“Your calendar?” she was sounding smug again. “It’s still on February.”

Buck dropped a plate back into the sink. There was a cracking sound and Buck winced. There went another plate.

He didn't dare look at the calendar. At shirtless, smirking Eddie Diaz.

“Is it?” he asked, aiming for surprise.

“Uh-huh.” Too damn smug. “And here I thought it’d be July all year in your flat, Mr Narcissist. You were looking forward to it enough.” She paused to eat a grape. “I mean, you are going to change it to July when it actually gets to your month, right?”

“Course I am,” Buck scoffed.

He didn’t.

***

“Hey Buck,” Eddie smiled at him as warmly as ever as he answered the door; his dark eyes crinkling at the corners in that unfairly handsome way of his. He reached out to squeeze Buck’s arm and Buck’s stomach so did not do a little flip because of it. “I just need to go and grab my bag, won’t be a second…” and with that he was off towards his bedroom, leaving Buck to wander into the lounge to find Christopher.

“Hey bud,” he grinned at Christopher, ruffling his hair fondly, “How you doing?”

“Oh hey Buck,” Christopher greeted him, as bright and happy as ever. It always made Buck feel special; knowing that such an amazing kid was always so pleased to see and spend time with him.

“Your dad’s just grabbing his stuff and then we’ll be heading out.”

“Ok,” Christopher nodded, attention moving back to his Lego.

Buck was just about to sit down and stretch out beside him on the carpet, and maybe – definitely – join in with the Lego building, when he spotted and recognised what was hanging from the wall. 

“Your calendar needs changing,” he said, moving towards it to do just that. “It’s August now.”

“Oh no Buck,” Christopher said, and Buck stopped and looked back at him. “We don’t use that calendar. Dad says so. We use the one in the kitchen instead.”

Buck frowned, turning to look at the calendar, which was still on the month of July - the month of his own grinning face and wet t-shirt - and then looked back to Christopher. “What do you mean, bud?”

Christopher shrugged, still half-distracted by his Lego. “That one is always on July.”

Buck blinked.

Oh?

_Oh._


	2. Chapter 2

“What’s with the face, Eddie?”

Eddie startled, but did not move from his position; leaning with his shoulder against the wall, arms crossed, one foot hooked over the other. He glanced at Hen.

“Are you feeling threatened?” Hen guessed, with a knowing smirk, “Because Buck has found something he likes more than you?”

“Or is it…” Chim chipped in and Eddie rolled his eyes skyward as Chim appeared on his other side. It was like having an angel and a devil on each shoulder except neither of them were on his side and both had only appeared to tease him mercilessly, “That you are feeling concerned that Buck has finally been reunited with his own kind and may leave you to join a pack of his own people?”

The three of them looked across the room to watch Buck try to keep a hold of two squirming, excitable golden retriever puppies. He was laughing because one of them had managed to get in licking distance of his face.

The charity calendar photographer was having a damn field day, not needing any direction from Sandy, the calendar organiser, and all Eddie could do was helplessly _watch_ this unfair level of adorableness take place. Because it really wasn’t fair that someone who was already _that_ cute and handsome could be made even _more_ cute and handsome. It wasn’t fair. On Eddie’s heart.

“ _Or_ is it that you’re finding it unfair that you have to stand here and watch and aren’t allowed to go over there because it would interfere with the shoot?” Chim could be far too astute.

“If that’s the case then I think it’s only fair for you to be feeling that way,” Hen said, “Since Buck had to put up with watching you with those kittens earlier.”

“You should have seen his face,” Chim agreed, “The wide, adoring puppy eyes were in full force.”

“Actually under the circumstances of that particular situation I’d say he looked more like a smitten kitten.”

“ _Yes_ Hen! He was absolutely a smitten kitten! Because I mean,” Chim was suddenly addressing Eddie again, “It wasn’t just the cats he was looking at.”

The kittens had been undeniably adorable and Sandy had insisted on letting the whole litter of kittens loose on Eddie. Eddie had been sitting on the floor as the kittens had clambered all over him; in his lap, up on his shoulders, one even made it to his head. He had held one up and touched noses with it, impossibly endeared as it pawed at his cheek. He had been having such fun time and so distracted by imagining how much Christopher would be enjoying it while trying to keep track of six little fur balls of energy, that he had practically forgotten the photographer was there at all until Sandy had reappeared and confirmed that they had gotten some _'truly gorgeous'_ shots.

“He looks about ready to adopt one of those puppies Eddie,” Chim warned, drawing Eddie back to the present gorgeous shots being captured.

“Like Eddie hasn’t got his hands full with the human golden retriever he already has,” Hen grinned fondly as she watched Buck.

Eddie also turned his full attention back to Buck, who at that moment had his nose buried in one of the puppy’s fur and Eddie had not been emotionally or mentally prepared for it. He had thought it wasn’t possible that he could love Buck any more than he already did, but apparently he was wrong.

It had been only a couple of months ago that Buck had offered to change Eddie and Christopher’s calendar to August, since they still had July up. The reason July was up, of course, was because it was the month that displayed a photo of Buck leaning against one of the fire trucks, white t-shirt soaked, head thrown back in a laugh, looking like every delicious snack Eddie had ever craved. The calendar shot had been unfairly beautiful enough but the shoot itself had been _torture_ for Eddie, who at the time had been certain he was harbouring unreciprocated feelings for his best friend. Eddie had sort-of-maybe-definitely had July up on the calendar all year. Eddie had actually been out of the room when Buck had offered to change the calendar to August and it had been Chris - the adorable little traitor - that had dropped Eddie in it by informing Buck that it had been July all year round in the Diaz house.

It hadn’t taken long for Buck to find Eddie and inform him that it had been February all year round in the Buckley bachelor pad. Mr February had wasted little time in pulling Mr July down for a kiss.

“You’re a man of few words today aren’t you Eddie?” Chim teased.

“Please, his face says it _all_ ,” Hen teased.

“Yeah, you’re right. Maybe _Eddie_ is the smitten kitten here.”

Hen nodded sagely at their finalised conclusion, “And Buckaroo is the puppy eyes.”

“Don’t you both have better things to be doing?” Eddie didn’t mean for it to sound even half as pleading as it came out.

"We're all off-duty right now, remember?" Hen reminded him. Which was true, so actually no, they probably didn't have better things to be doing than teasing Eddie. 

“Aww Eddie,” Chim said, “Are you…” he stopped short though when Sandy turned and called out to him. “Oooh it’s my turn with the cute animals!” Chim grinned excitedly, and he turned that grin on Eddie, “Try not to get too mushy-eyed over me, Eddie, ok?”

“Course not,” Eddie dismissed, “I’m saving all the rest of my swooning for Hen’s shoot.”

“Charmer,” Hen nudged his arm with a pleased smirk.

Eddie did mean that though; Hen was finally going to get her time to shine on the calendar. When the charity calendar had decided to partner with a rescue shelter for the next years’ calendar, it was decided that to make things easier for the animals and transportation, they would focus that years’ calendar on only one station, rather than having a fireman or two from several stations. All the interested stations had been put into a hat, and it just so happened that the 118 had had the luck of the draw. Then whoever had been interested from the 118 had come forward to claim a month. It had been decided that Eddie, Chim and Buck would reclaim February, April and July. Hen had claimed October. Bobby had September. More of the 118 had claimed the rest.

Then, of course, the rescue animals had arrived that morning. In some cases - like Hen and Chim’s months - their animals had already been allotted to them because of the theme of the season, and from there the rest had randomly been paired with dogs or cats or rabbits of all ages and breeds. As a spring month, Chim’s photos were going to be with three cute little rabbits; he had already sent selfies with them to Maddie and apparently was now being persuaded to adopt them. Hen was paired with a big fluffy cat for her Halloween-themed shoot that she claimed would make her look and feel like a sexy James Bond villain. Bobby’s shoot that morning had been with a couple of pitbull-crosses with big smiling faces. Buck had fallen in love with _them_ too and had spent most of the time prior to his and Eddie’s shoots trying to convince Bobby to let them get a station dog, and also that said dog could go home with Buck every night.

Eddie was drawn back to the present when Chim started heading in the direction of Sandy and the animal shelter staff, “Whatever Mr February, Miss October,” Chim spun on his heel to salute them as he walked away, “Prepare to be outshone by Mr April, returning champion, and his bunny minions.”

Eddie caught Hen rolling her eyes good naturedly, but most of his attention was still on Buck, even though Buck’s shoot had finished and he wasn’t posing or playing to the camera anymore. Because Buck was always beautiful, but a Buck enamoured with the golden puppies in his arms was some whole other level. Jesus, and Eddie had thought seeing Buck with Christopher was cute enough. Eddie had no idea what seeing Buck holding his baby niece or nephew was going to do to him.

“Ugh, go and see him already,” Hen tutted him fondly, “Before you start drooling more than the dogs.”

Eddie side-eyed her but she only grinned at him innocently, holding up her hands in a ‘ _you can’t deny it’_ fashion as she left him to it.

Eddie decided not to waste any more time. Buck spotted him quickly as Eddie crossed the station floor towards him, grinning at him widely, eyes soft; the bundles of golden energy in his hands even softer still.

“Hey Mr Valentine’s Day,” Buck said to him, and even his voice was pitched more softly, sweetly, the way people’s voices tended to do around dogs, “Meet Chip and Pip. They’re a handful, do you mind taking…yeah, thanks, that one’s Chip.”

Eddie gathered Chip into his arms and immediately the puppy set to licking at his new friends’ face. And from that moment Buck wasn’t the only one guilty of talking in puppy-voice; “Aww hey, yeah, yeah I know,” Eddie said to the puppy, because it was impossible not to be instantly fond of him, “I know, it’s all very exciting isn’t it?”

He turned his fond smile from the puppy to Buck, who was gazing back at him, smile lighting up his eyes, but not for long, as Pip was wriggling in his arms and Buck got distracted as he shifted the puppy so that he could cuddle her better, burying his nose in Pip’s fur and breathing in.

Eddie might have suffered a minor heart attack at the sight of it but he kept that to himself.

“Puppy smell,” Buck murmured, “I love these dogs, Eddie.”

Eddie stopped petting Chip’s head to take a gentle hold of the front of Buck’s shirt to draw him closer and down to kiss him gently. They didn’t tend to partake in much PDA at work, but everybody was sufficiently distracted enough by cute animals not to be paying attention and Eddie was distracted enough by cute Buck that he couldn’t help himself. Buck’s eyes were big and earnest when they broke apart, the puppies held between them. Buck’s smile was bright and happy and beautiful and _fuck_ Eddie loved him.

“I love you,” he told him.

“I know.” Buck stuck his tongue between his teeth teasingly when Eddie arched his eyebrow, “I love you too.” He then became re-distracted by the puppies, cooing at their behaviour. Eddie watched him, and petted Chip, until Buck asked "Were Hen and Chim giving you a hard time over there?”

“A little,” Eddie allowed, "It was pretty inevitable though. I wasn't exactly being subtle about watching you."

“They did the same to me when you were with the kittens. I couldn’t…you just looked so _cute_ Eddie,” Buck’s tone whined with emphasis on ‘cute’, like he hadn’t been able to believe just _how_ cute. “And now I'm looking at you holding Chip and I _can’t_.”

Eddie grinned up at him innocently, and Buck gawked at him like _Eddie_ was being unfair; like Buck hadn’t been making Eddie pull the exact same face for the past twenty minutes straight.

“But you _can,_ ” Eddie reminded him, “This shoot has been easier for me to handle than watching your shoot last year,” he managed to cradle Chip in one arm to free up his other hand to smooth a thumb along Buck’s jaw, “Last year we had to watch each other's calendar shoots and thought we couldn't do anything about it. This year was so much better because now I know I _can_.”

He loved when Buck’s expression turned heated like that, “Yeah,” he agreed, and he turned his head to press his lips feather-light to the inside of Eddie’s wrist, “We can.”

It was a promise for later and Eddie was already looking forward to the end of their shift.

Buck, however, was probably going to be happy if their shift lasted all day so long as the dogs, cats and rabbits were still going to be there.

“Aww come on Bobby _please,_ ” Buck begged later on, trailing after Bobby like a son asking his dad for a new pet, “Can you at least think about it. A station dog? Or a cat?”

“A cat?”

“It can…you know…chase the pigeons away?”

“Cats can be as good as dogs for therapeutic support,” Eddie offered.

“Exactly, Eddie!” Buck pointed at Eddie, “Exactly! See, Bobby?”

Bobby sent Eddie a look that warned him to _stop encouraging Buck._

“Please think about it Bobby, _please_ ,” Buck begged again.

Bobby was only as immune to those eyes as any of them, so eventually offered “I’ll think about it. But no promises.”

Buck whooped in triumph, and having gotten Bobby’s potential-think-about-it on the matter, hurried back downstairs to return to spending time with the animals. Eddie peered over the edge to grin in amusement as Buck immediately started sweet-talking the rescue shelter staff into letting him spend more time with the dogs and cats, since Chim seemed to still be hogging his small army of rabbits.

When Eddie heard a throat clearing next to him, he looked up to find Bobby watching him with equal, but different, amusement.

“I’m concerned a dog permanently at the station might be too much of a distraction,” Bobby said.

“For the team?” Eddie asked. He could understand the logic, he supposed. When Bobby shook his head with a smirk, Eddie realised he was joking, “Oh, you mean for Buck?”

“Well, yes,” Bobby said, fondly like that would be obvious, “But not just for him.”

Eddie’s eyes widened at the implication, “You mean me?”

Bobby side-eyed Buck downstairs and Eddie’s eyes caught and held on Buck petting a very pleased looking cat. It took Bobby clearing his throat again for Eddie to drag his eyes back to Bobby’s arched, amused eyebrow.

“Yes Eddie,” Bobby patted his shoulder with mock sympathy, “I mean you.”

“Yeah, ok,” Eddie had to admit with a laugh, “That’s probably fair.”

**Author's Note:**

> I couldn't help it you guys! I wrote a second chapter because the headcanon was just too cute! <3 
> 
> This was a fun one to write and I hope you enjoyed! Any kudos, comments, bookmarks etc. are most appreciated. Thanks for reading! <3


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